Mallee Bull Project

In 2009, Peel finalised the acquisition of exploration lease EL7461 which encompassed the historic Gilgunnia and 4-Mile goldfields, it also contained the mining lease, ML1361, the May Day Project, another of Peel’s flagships.

Initial exploration primarily focused on the known polymetallic potential of May Day until, in late 2010, an airborne electromagnetic geophysical survey resulted in the recognition of a coincident late time conducting anomaly and magnetic high proximal to the historic 4-Mile goldfields.

The anomaly was confirmed by a subsequent ground-based geophysical survey in early 2011, and follow-up RC and diamond drilling resulted in the discovery of strongly anomalous polymetallic (gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc) mineralisation.

In 2012, CBH Resources Limited signed a farm-in agreement to acquire 50% of the Mallee Bull and May Day projects. During the JV partnership, seven drill programs were completed at the Mallee Bull Project, as well as the release of a maiden mineral resource in 2014 and an updated resource in 2017.

In 2020, Peel exercised its pre-emptive right to acquire CBH Resources Limited’s 50% share of the Mallee Bull Joint Venture by matching a third party’s unconditional offer, regaining 100% control of the high-grade Mallee Bull copper deposit and the gold-polymetallic May Day deposit.

Since discovery in 2010, drilling activities at Mallee Bull and proximal targets include 125 RAB holes, 153 RC holes (including 42 with diamond tails), and 117 diamond holes (including 15 wedge holes), this for a total of approximately 9,500m of RAB drilling, 28,400m of RC drilling, and 64,500m of diamond drilling to April 2022.

Other exploration activities completed by Peel during it’s tenure include soil and rock chip sampling (including lab assay as well as portable XRF), geological mapping, and a number of geophysical survey techniques.

Mallee Bull is interpreted to be in a favourable geological and structural position; it is situated near the suitably high-stress environment of the “nose” of an anticline and occurs in a geological sequence of turbidite and volcaniclastic sediments which are thought to be age equivalent to the Chesney and Great Cobar Slate Formations found in the immediate Cobar region.

Mineralisation occurs either as massive sulphide or hydrothermal breccia styles within a package of brecciated volcaniclastic and turbidite sediments comprising siltstones and mudstones and is interpreted to occur as a shoot/lens-like structure dipping moderately to the west. The deposit is split into two domains: Silver Ray (shallower, comparatively lead and zinc rich mineralisation) and Union Deeps (deeper higher copper grade zones).

A Maiden Mineral Resource released in May 2014 was subsequently upgraded in July 2017, and again in January 2023. The 2023 model comprises 7.01 million tonnes at 1.78% copper, 29 g/t silver, 0.38 g/t gold, 0.52% lead and 0.51% zinc containing approximately 125,000 tonnes of copper, 6.47 million ounces silver, 85,000 ounces gold, 36,000 tonnes lead and 36,000 tonnes zinc. Refer to 9^th January 2023 announcement “20MT Resource Base for South Cobar Project” for further details.

The NSW Government has approved an application from Peel Mining Limited to conduct underground drilling for the Mallee Bull Copper Project including a Review of Environmental Factors.

Read the Approval in full here.